Shingle manufacture



Patented May 19, 1931 UNITED STATES man L. GUY, or CHICAGO, rumorsSHINGLE MANUFACTURE Application filed January 19, 1931. Serial No.509,702.

This invention relates to shingles and, among other objects, aims toprovide an improved lock shingle which is economical both as regardsproduction and use.

The nature of the invention may be readily understood by reference toone illustrative construction embodying the invention and shown in theaccompanying drawings.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view, more or less diagrammatic in character, of therelative arrangement of shingles in which they may be cut without wastefrom a sheet of roofing material.

Fig. 2 is a plan view illustrating one arrangement of the shingles as aroof covermg.

In the present case the illustrative shingles are made from flexibleprepared roofing material which comprises an asphalt coated fibroussheet in the coating of which is impressed or imbedded a surfacingmaterial such as colored mineral matter in the form of crushed slate orthe like. The prepared roofing usually comes in long or continuoussheets of material which is, rough- I some multiple of 32 inches inwidth. (generally a practical width is 64 inches.

The illustrative shingle 10 comprises a 3 rectangular body which, in thepresent case, is about 16 inches in length (or some length of which thewidth of the material from which it is cut, is a multiple) andapproximately 12 inches in depth: The shingles are 35 provided adjacenttheirs'ide edges 11 and 12 with interlocking means by which the shinglesmay be fastened down along their exposed lower edge without, however,exposing the fastening means such as a nail. The fas- 40 tening down ofthe shingles along their lower exposed edge prevents the same fromcurlin up or being blown up by wind or rain, thus permitting the use ofa minimum amount of material to cover the roof without danger of leakageof rain water which otherwise might be blown under the shingles. Thelocking means is here shown in the form of an inwardly extending notch13 cut in the side edge 12 of one shingle adjacent its lower edge 14.The notch 13 serves to straddle an adjacent shingle which underlies thenotched edge above the notch and overlies it below the notch 13, thusconcealing the fastening nail 15 which is driven through the tab 16below the notch at a point as close- 1% as is practicable to the sideedge 12 of the s ingle. An ade uate amount of side over lap A (see Fig.2 is provided by notching the underlying shingle adjacent its underlymgedge so as to straddle the notch 13, thereby permitting the underlyingedge 11 of the shingle to extend inwardly substantially beyond thebottom of the notch 13. This is effected in the present case by notchmgthe shingles at 17 adjacent their under- 6 lying edges 11 so as tointerlock with the notch 13. The notch 17 is as deep as the distancebetween notch 13 and the lower edge of the shingle, thereby making itpossible to aline the lower edges of adjacent 7 shingles when notches l3and 17 of the respective shingles are interengaged.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, it will be noted that the underlying edge 11extends a distance B beyond the bottom or inner extremity of notch 13.

The shingles are applied and interlocked by first laying the shin le 18at the left end of a course of shing es, driving a nail 15 or otherfastening means through the portion 16 and then inserting the portion 19of the adjacent shingle 20 into the notch 13 and sliding it below theportion 16 and inside the nail 15. The operation of applying shingle 20is literally ahooking action, and the shingle is in fact hooked over thenail 15. The bottom edge 13 of the shingle 20 is, of course, alined withthe bottom edge of the shingle 18, and the left hand edge 11 of shingle2O underlies the shingle 18 by 99 the distance A. The portion 21,immediately to the right of the notch 17 overlies the portion 16 ofshingle 18, thus concealing and protecting the nail 15 or otherfastening means. For the sake of greater clarity, the

underlying portions of the lower course of shingles in Fig. 2 have beenindicated alternately by dotted lines and by dot and dash lines, thatis, the underlying portions of shingle 18 are represented by dottedlines, 100

those of shingle 20 by dot and dash lines, and those of shingle 23 bydotted lines. It should be noted that the nail 15 should be sufiicientlyclose to the side edge 12 of the shingle as not to interfere with theinsertion of the tab 19 ofthe adjacentshingle.

After shingle 20 is thus ositioned, a nail 22 many be driven throug itstab 16 and the interlocking operation is then repeated with the nextadjacent shingle 23. Thus, each course of shingles is not only fastenedclosely ad'acent its lower edge at both ends of each shingle, but theside edges of the shingles are also held down. By providing aninterlockin notch adjacent the side edge of the underlying shin le, asubstantial and adequate overlap A ig. 2) may be provided withoutexposing a correspondingly wide free side lap 24 along the overlyingedge of each shingle. The free side lap may be considered to be thatportion of the shingle which lies between the overlying side edge 12 andthe bottom of the notch 13 where it is firmly held down at its loweredge. In the present case, this free side lap is "so narrow that itcannot be rolled or curled up by a drivin wind or rain.

The amount of over ap A may be varied by shifting the notch 17 relativeto the side edge 11 of the shingle. It is preferably located at such apoint so as not to require more than the safe minimum of overlap. Thedesign is such that the shingles cannot be laid with less than the safeminimum of the overlap since the nail 15 would then become exposed andimmediately indicate the improper laying of the shingles. I

It should be noted that shingles of each course are interlocked (and thelower edges securely fastened down) independently of any other course.This permits variation in the amount each course is exposed to theweather, without interfering with the fastening down of the lower edgesof the shingle.

In order to provide means to serve as a gauge for locating an overlyingcourse of shingles, the side edge of each shingle is given an offset toprovide a visible gauge for locating the overlying course. This ofl'setmay be covered b the overlying course and hence will not a cot theappearance of the roof covering. In the present case this offset appearsas a tab 25 projecting from the side edge of each shingle. WVhen, ashere shown, the tab is given the same configuration as the notch 13, thematerial cut out to form the notch 13 in one. shingle provides the tab25 in an adjacent shingle, and as presently described this among otherfeatures of the design, ena les the shingles to be made without waste.

After a pair of adjacent shingles have been interlocked a fastening nailis advantageously driven through the tab 25 and the underlying shingleat a point in alignment with, or outside, the side edge 12 of theshingle. Thus, there is no portion of the free side edge of the shinglewhich lies outside or to the right of the fastening nail and theresistance of the free side edge to curling up or lifting under adriving rain or wind is substantially increased over what it would be ifthe fastening nail lay inside the side edge. v

The tab 25 on each shingle is preferably arranged so that it may serveas a guide by which to auge the minimum overlap of the succee ing courseof shingles; and in this case it is located at a oint which willdetermine the minimum sail; amount of overlap between adjacentcourses-so that if a less amount of overlap be employed (in an effort tomake the shingles cover a larger area of roofing) the tabs 25 will beexposed and immediately indicate that the amount of overlap isinadequate. As shown in Fig. 2, the lower edge line 26 of an overlyingcourse of shingles 27 is made to coincide with the tab 25, providing thesafe minimum amount C of overlap between adjacent courses. Thus it ispossible for a roofing manufacturer to produce a lock shingle foradequately covering the maximum amount of roofing surface without thedanger of having the shingles laid with less than the safe minimumoverlap. It is possible, therefore, always to lay the shingles to givethe maximum roof covering with the confidence that the minimum margin ofsafety will never be exceeded. The tabs 25 do not prevent the laying ofcourses of shingles with a greater amount of overlap than the distanceC,they merely prevent the laying of the shingles with less than theminimum of overlap.

By designing the notches 13 so that the lower edge of the tabs 25 areparallel to the lower edge of the shingle, it is possible to effect aneasy alignment or register of the lower edge of one course of shingleswith the lower parallel edge of the tabs 25.

In Fig. 1 is shown an arrangement which enables the shingles to be cutfrom a sheet wlthout. waste, by reversing the arrangement of the column28 of shingles relative to the column 29 so that the tabs-25 in theshingles in column 29 form the notches 13 in the shingles in column 28.The outer side edges of the two columns 28 and 29 are strai ht and itis, therefore, possible to repeat t is arrangement of columns ofshingles in a wider sheet. For example, in a 64 inch sheet there wouldbe two sets of columns similar to columns 28 and 29.

The notches 17 adjacent the. underlying edge 11 of the shingle leavetabs 30 along the upper or underlying edge of each shingle. These tabs,while not serving any necessary function, are left on the shingle rathera diamond than severed therefrom in order to eliminate the possibilitythat free pieces of roofing material would accidentally be packagedbetween a pile of shingles, thus staining or marring the shinglesurface. By designing the notch 17 so that its inner edge 31 isperpendicular to the lower edge of the shingle, a maximum amount ofcovering over the tab 16 and fastening nail 15 may be secured.

The location-of the tab 25 relative to the top edge of its shingleis'independent of the relative location of other features of theshingle. Therefore these tabs may be located independently of andwithout changing, the other features, such as'the location of notch 13,in order to gauge the'proper minimum weather overlap for the shingles.This is effected by offsetting the transverse cuts 14 of the shingles inthe right hand column of shin les (Fig. 1) relative to the cuts 14 inthe lei hand column, to a greater or less degree to space the tabssufficiently far from the top edge of the shingle to give adequateoverlap. In such case the location of notch 13 is unchanged. The notches13 in one column of shingles are of course contiguous to and provide thematerial for, the tabs on the shingles in the contiguous column.

The proportions between length and width of the shingles may, of course,be varied; and if a square shingle be employed, it may be laid incourses which run diagonally (such as at 45) to the roof so as toproduce shingle effect. The shingles may also be made without waste'andapplied as above described if the lower edges are given a configurationother than that of a straight edge,in which case the upper edges of theshingles (which are concealed) will have a complementary configuration.

Obviously, the invention is not limited to the details of theillustrative construction herein shown and described since these may bevariously modified. Moreover, it is not indispensable that all featuresof the invention be used conjointly since various features may be usedto advantage in different combinations and subcombinations.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A roof covering comprising in combination, a plurality of horizontalcourses of rectangular shingles made of flexible rooflng material, oneside edge of each shingle being straight and being provided with a notchextending inwardly of said side edge adjacent its lower edge and with atab identical in outline with said notch and spaced downwardly from thetop edge of the shingle and projecting outwardly from sa1d s1de edge,the bottom edge of each shingle havmgan interlocking notch adjacent theother s de edge, said notches of adjacent shingles being interlocked tooverlap the side edges of sa t adjacent shingles with their lower edges1n horizontal alinement, and a fastening nail Lil nation, a plurality ofcourses of rectangular I shingles made of flexible roofing material andhaving their lower edges horizontally alined, one side edge of eachshingle being straight and being provided nearits upper end with aprojecting nailing tab and adjacent its lower edge with a notchextending inwardly ofsaid side edge, the bottom edge of each shinglehaving an interlocking notch adjacent the other side edge, said notchesof adjacent shingles being interlocked to overlap the side edges of saidadj acent shingles, with their lower edges in horizontal alinement, theside margin of the overlapping shingle extending laterally beyond thepoint of interlock and the side margin of the underlying shingleextending laterally inside the point of'interlock, the lower portion ofsaid underlying shingle passing through said notch and overlying thelower corner of said overlying shingle, and a fastening nail driventhrough the latter corner and being covered by the outer shingle.

3. A roof covering comprising in combination, a having parallel sideedges and made of flexible roofing material, one side edge of eachshingle being straight and being provided adjacent its lower edge with acut extending inwardly of said side edge and with a tab spaceddownwardly from its top edge and projecting outwardly from said sideedge, the bottom. edge of each shingle having an interlocking cutadjacent the other side edge, said cuts of adjacent shingles being interlocked to overlap the side edges of said adjacent shingles with theirlower edges alined with the course, the side margin of the overlappingshingle extending laterally beyond the polnt of interlock and the sidemargin of the underlying shingle extending laterally inside the point ofinterlock and the overlying course of shingles being gau ed by the saidtabs on the next adjacent un erlying conrse.-

4. A roof covering comprising in combination a plurality of horizontal,overlapping courses of rectangular flexible shingles, each shinglehaving a side notch extending inwardly from one side edge and adjacentits lower edge and a nailing tab projecting from plurality of courses ofalined shingles said side edge near the top edge of the shingle, and anotch in its loweredge adjacent the opposite side, the latter notchbeing interlocked with the side notch of an adjacent shingle with theirlower edges in horizontal alinement, and a fastening nail driven throughthe corner of the shingle adjacent the side notch, the interlockedcorner of the other shingle lying behind said fastening nail, theshingles 0t each course being thereby interlocked independently of theshingles of other courses whereby the amount of overlap of the coursesmay be varied.

5. In a roof covering the combination comprising a plurality ofoverlapped rectangular shingles arranged in courses and made of flexibleroofing material, each shingle having a triangular gauge tab projectingfrom one side edge of the shingle, the lower edge of said tab beingparallel with the lower edge of the shingle and being spaced downwardlyfrom the top edge of the shingle corresponding to the overlap betweencourses of shingles, said side edge having adjacent the lower edge ofthe shingle an inwardly extending triangular notch identical in outlinewith said tab, the lower edges of the shingle of an overlapping courseregistering with the lower edges of the tabs of the next underlyincourse. v

6. As an article 0% manufacture, a rectangular shingle made of flexibleroofing material and having a tab projecting from one side edge spaceddown from'the top edge of said shingle, said side edge having near itslower edge a notch'identical in outline with said tab and extendinginwardly of said side edge adjacent the lower edge of said shingle, saidtab being spaced substantially fart er from the top ed e of said shinglethan said notch is spaced rom said lower edge.

7 The method of cutting rectangular shinglesfrom a sheet of flexibleroofing material which is characterized by cutting the shingles from thesheet in transversely sev-' ered contiguous columns whose width is thatof the shingle cutting notches in the side edge of each shingle in acolumn and leaving the material cut to form said notches at tached asgauge tabs to the shingles in the contiguous column, and transverselycutting said columns at spaced points to form shingles and offsettingthe transverse cuts in one column relative to those of the contiguouscolumn to locate each tab below-the top edge of its shingle a distancecorresponding to the weather overlap desired so that said tabs may serveas a gauge for laying the shingles.

8. The method of cutting lock shingles without waste having a sheet offlexible roofing material which is characterized by cutting contiguouscolumns of material equal in width to that of a shingle, the shin les inone column being reversely arrange relative to the shingles in thecontiguous column,

the foregoing I aflix my sig- HARRY L. GUY.

